The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-25
MAKING SMOKE PICTURES.
A New and Suggestive Method Of Mai
ing fsisck and White Work.

A New and Suggestive Method Of MAJ
ing BLACK and white Work.
Painters are proverbial inventors. They
were more 70 i'm old times than at pres
ent, for at that time nothing was estab-
lished and every painter had to make his
own colors, canvases, and sometimes the
impleinents he used. Nowadays they
are still an inventive class, for to secure
n method of painting which shall he dis
tinctive of his own work only painter
is obliged to try new processes and COM
binatio.is &c processes until he reaches
one which thoroughly satisfies his de-
sircs. The results Of such researches are
sometimes seen in our exhibitions. especi-
ally in black and white work. The
monotype, a painting made with printers
ink ON u waxed paper, is one Of the more
recent Inventions of tie kind The
popularity of the monotype was its
facility of handling and a certain rich
quality of color which compared well
with the etching. The first monOtype
was made on a copper plate, and then
was transferred To paper, having been
apparently suggested to the author by
the rubbing" process in etching. Only
one impression of such plate could be
made, and tine experiment has proved
u-NitHH W 70.
A still more recent invention, and with
more novel and valuable effects, is Mr..
w. Hamilton Gibson's ''smoke picture :"
Several of these smoke pictures We're re-
Gently shown in the rooms of the
Authors club. where they received very
general commentator for their broad
and striking effects.
The .'s1noke picture" appears to be
something entirely new. 1t may be
briefly described as n black and white
made by gas flame upon a cardboard or
paper ground. In Mr.. Gibson's first ex-
periments he held the paper before hori-
zontal flame, and by passing one part
after another across the flame secured
masses of lampblack, which he found he
could manipulate afterward to great pic
torial advafltange. In this awkward
manner he was able to evolve a land
scape of decided suSgestiveness. Later
he attached n rubber tube to his gas fix
ture, and with suitable nozzle at the
end was able to sit before his easel and
manipulate the gas pipe as he would IA
brush. After this innovation he was
able to obtain greater accuracy and to
study better his effects.
After the paper has been coated well
with varying shades of gray and black it
presents perhaps the suggestion only of a
landscape or figure. Detail may then be
put in with brush, with the finger. or
with any desired implement. Where the
removal of the black by this means leaves
too white a surface the gas flame passed
quickly over it will subdue it as grad
ually rs may be wished to a deeper tone.
| In its present state the smoke picture Is
| in its infancy, but it is certainly prom
| some relief from the excessive detail of
his ordinary method, Mr.. Gibson was as
| tonished and charmed with the results of
his experiment. Every touch of the
flame seemed to suggest a new theme.
| The whole was broad, yet marked with
graduatiOns so delicate as to be inimitable
| by any ordinary method of black and
white work Meanwhile the bold and
| intense blacks assumed a rich, velvety
texture and depth which seemed remork-
able. Unfortunately, the quality dis
appears under a spray of fixitive, the
| liquid apparently forming solution with
| the lampblack. which loses its character
| by the displacement of its particles.
Could some other method of preserving it
| be found it would add to the sum of our
| knowledge in art Il new black by the side
| of which the ordinary ivory and lamp
| blacks would appear light.
| Tho pictures which have thus far re-
suited from Mr.. Gibson's experiments are
| above oil broad and suggestive. The pro-
cess is so rapid that its value for sketching
purposes is already assured. 1t shows
itself furthermore caSable of giving re-
markable qualities" being capable of
the softest and smoothest of even surface
| or of the most bold and broken. according
It, -
| the texture OF the underground, or pecu-
| harities of application.
Mr.. Gibson hopes to carry his expert
ments still further and to test the value
| of his smoke picture for illustrative pur-
poses. Meanwhile the process is SO easy
and material SO cheap that numbers will
doubtless try it for thenlselves.-New
Yosk Commercial Advertiser.